A 57-year-old man is accused of drugging three 12-year-old girls with sedative-laced smoothies during his daughter's sleepover last summer at his Lake Oswego home, court records show.
As reported by Oregon Live, Michael Meyden turned himself in to the Clackamas County Jail late Tuesday on multiple felony and misdemeanor allegations and pleaded not guilty during his arraignment Wednesday in Clackamas County Circuit Court. His bail was set at $50,000.
Smoothies Tested Positive for Benzodiazepine
Meyden laced mango smoothies with benzodiazepine and served the drinks to his daughter's friends, according to a probable cause affidavit. Benzodiazepine is a depressant that slows the nervous system. The affidavit doesn't explain a motive.
Meyden faces charges including causing another person to ingest a controlled substance and application of a controlled substance to the body of another person.
The investigation began Aug. 26 when Lake Oswego police were called to the emergency room at Randall Children's Hospital in Portland where three girls tested positive for benzodiazepine.
Meyden Insisted Girls Drink the Smoothies, Girls Described Feeling 'Groggy,' 'Blacking Out' Afterwards
The girls told police they attended a Saturday sleepover at their friend's home and they suspected they had "unknowingly been given drugs by their friend's father," according to the affidavit. They described feeling groggy, even blacking out.
They told police Meyden had been "very involved" with their activities during the sleepover and they "got ready for bed at Mr. Meyden's direction," the affidavit read.
The girls spent most of the time in the basement, where they watched movies and "did facials," according to the affidavit.
Sometime between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., Meyden prepared the smoothies "and insisted they drink them," the girls told police. The drinks had "tiny white chunks throughout and sprinkled on top," the affidavit says.
One of the girls said she didn't like smoothies and declined to drink hers, but Meyden insisted, even making a second one for her to try, according to the affidavit.
Meyden Even Held His Finger Under Once of the Girls' Nose to Check if She was Asleep
According to the affidavit, Meyden made repeated visits to the basement, at one point holding his finger under one girl's nose and waving his hand in front of her face to see if she was asleep.
He also moved one girl's arm and moved her body on the bed, the affidavit says. The girl "remained awake in fear that Mr. Meyden was going to do something" to her friend, according to the affidavit.
'Mom, Please Pick Me Up'
The affidavit says Meyden walked out of the room, prompting a girl to text her mother at 1:43 a.m. Sunday: "Mom please pick me up and say I had a family emergency. I don't feel safe. I might not respond but please come get me (crying emoji), Please. Please pick up. Please. PLEASE!!"
Meyden returned to the basement again, standing near the area where the girls were sleeping. One girl told police "she could feel him watching her by his presence as she kept her eyes shut, pretending to be asleep." Meyden appeared to keep "doing tests to make sure we weren't awake," a girl told investigators.
In the middle of the night, an adult who one of the girls had texted came to pick her up and bring her home, reached out to the parents of the other girls and they went to Meyden's home at about 3 a.m. to collect their daughters.
Meyden resisted at first, saying the girls were asleep and asking the parents to return in the morning, but the parents insisted. They then drove the kids to the hospital, where they tested positive for drugs.
